Spanish investors chipped in €19.6bn from January until August included, 15% more than in the same period last year. Net fund flows from Italian investors increased by more than 12% to €37.3bn. The largest annual increase in fund flows of 17.5% was recorded in Norway, a figure largely attributable to the country’s egregious national oil fund.
UK and Norway make best returns
Cerulli also assessed the aggregate return investors made on their portfolios in each country. Their analysis showed that investors in the UK and Norway were most successful in riding the last waves of the bull market. The data do not include the worldwide spike in negative sentiment which affected equity markets across Europe in October.
While the average investor saw the value of this portfolio rise by 7.4%, Europe’s most successful investors were based in the UK (+10.5%) and Norway (+10%). As a contrast, investors in Hungary and Czech Republic saw the value of their portfolios being eroded.